77 comments:

I'm awake ridiculously early, but not on purpose, and trying to decide whether to close my eyes or just give in and get up. Because of a funeral yesterday, I am way behind and not ready for tonight. Kathrynzj pointed me to material she shared at LiturgyLink, and I may just use what's in the UCC Book of Worship (yes, my despair has sunk to that level). I do have a sense of the service I would like, but there has been no time to put it in paper. Aargh!So, that's my truth this early morning.

Hi, just back home from Thursday evening service. Friday is printed and ready to go, I think, I'll have one more look to double check. and for the first time ever, I have the liturgy done for Sunday. Normally I can’t think about it until after Friday service is over and I have had time for my own Friday reflections. It helped that Good Friday this year is very similar to 3 years ago – thanks to RGBP Facebook comments  Martha, hope you get some inspiration and some sleep.

Good morning, Martha. I hope you were able to get a little more sleep. As for tonight, maybe you can use the Book of Worship as a starting point (or back up) and incorporate other creative material into what's there. If desperation shows through, well, that's not incongruent with the mood of what we gather to commemorate. That's how my inner Pollyanna is trying to make it through!

Which makes me wonder . . . Was Jesus feeling complete? I notice he introduces a new commandment and two new rituals. These are the things I think about before coffee!

We are doing a soup meal around the table and incorporating a worship and Communion into that. As an interim, I am trying to go with what they've "always" done and not change too much. Since I have done something similar before -- but not around a cross-shaped table (?!) -- I got to re-use that liturgy. And, no, it's not exactly like what they've done before but it's nothing weird, either.

Going to make some coffee and oatmeal. There's plenty, so help yourselves!

Chrism service and renewal of vows over and done with this morning. One down, 4 to go . . . Tonight is by the book as it's my first Maundy Thursday here. I also know the sermon is less than inspiring. It will make my husband happy as our daughter has just send him a book entitled "101 things to do during a boring sermon"! Good Friday is almost done -- just worrying it is too long and I'm trying to shorten it and tie up loose ends. Like a pearl downunder I find it very hard to think about Easter Sunday till I've worked through Good Friday. Ideas there, but not much more. Hang in there everyone! Lots of coffee on the go. At this stage I am concentrating on surviving and not falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane!

"in paper," hmmm...I guess for the hour, and considering I was typing with one finger on my iPhone, it's a pretty good ratio of mistakes to success. :-)I did sleep a little more. Thanks for the kind thoughts, Sharon and pearl.Sharon, that's a very good point about Jesus at the end of his life. I often describe the Farewell Discourse -- okay, stop me right there. "I often describe the Farewell Discourse" -- am I serious about me or what? Let's try again. The way it's written in John, he sure does try to jam in a lot on that one last night. Last year this time, Lucy and I watched the long version of "The Gospel of John," the movie with Desmond from "Lost" as Jesus, and that section goes on for.ever. We get the same build of frantic explanation in a different form in Matthew. And it's there in Mark, too, just a little more compactly formed, and not in the lectionary.I was going with John only until I remembered the disciples don't fall asleep in John, so this morning I'm back to mixing up gospels -- which for some reason I can't stand to do.I am making this so much more complicated for myself than it needs to be, in large measure because last year I worked very hard to do something different (a Tenebrae style service that used the whole Matthew Passiontide liturgy, with Communion in the spot it occurs in the story), and it fell flat. Well, to me it did. And especially to my worst critic, which isn't even me. I have a teenage daughter. All the way home "Worst Maundy Thursday ever, etc." This had to do with the way the readers didn't follow instructions, but I blamed myself for not making things clear enough. Since then I've concluded that there are very few people in the congregation with what I would describe as a ritual instinct, which makes these kinds of services hard. Okay, I've thrown it all out there. If I'm tempted to tell this sad story to anyone else again today, I'll refer them here. ;)

Tonight we have a supper followed by a communion service followed by en enactment of the Garden of Gethsemane. I'm apprehensive about the latter: the actors are nervous and self-conscious (and, of course, not actors), so have frequently burst into laughter in our couple of rehearsals. I wrote a little drama in which, in the moments before they fall asleep each time, the disciples talk about how they didn't expect anything like this, about their delight when they were called from their fishing boats, about the Transfiguration -- events which led them to surmise that things would not fall apart as they have -- and about how they will never abandon Jesus. And then they fall asleep, which so far has had a comedic effect. I have a little time to work with them on tone tonight, but . . .

I spent time with them all on Sunday trying to teach them a bit about imaginative prayer and asking them to spend some time this week contemplating their characters and how they might have experienced this night, but that's a new suggestion as well.

The play was mostly the worship committee's idea; the hope to turn it into a spiritual experience of prayer and attentiveness was mostly mine. We'll see.

And yes, Martha, ritual instinct is a hard thing to hone, I blame myself for not having written the drama a little differently to help that along, and now that you mention it I'm glad that my daughter with her theater experience will not be there to critique!

This year I wanted to stick with Mark as much as possible. The entrenched tradition for MT is a pot-luck meal. One family likes lamb and so they bring that and another brings roast beef...and the rest provide the sides. I long for a simple meal.

I am reading a small section of John on the foot washing after which we will wash hands. Then the new commandment from John. We have a group of people singing and then we shift back into Mark's passion, communion in a circle, and Mark's garden scene will be the final piece.

Besides that...home communions...four down...four to go....I have one paragraph written for Easter.

Good morning, y'all. We have a shared service with the other American Baptist church in town. The other church is hosting this year and thus planning the service (which I have yet to see and likely won't see until 15 minutes before the service). It's my turn to preach and I'm freaking out a little bit because so far I have no words written. But I'm preaching in about 10 hours so I hope inspiration flows fast and soon. I'm preaching the Corinthians text and so basically focusing completely on the Last Supper and our observance of it.

I'm afraid that a bit of most uncomfortable and sour church competitiveness has risen in my heart! I pastor a tiny church on a tiny square of a tiny country town, in which the only other nonresidential establishment is a combination firehouse/post office.

Last night a church a few miles away, out in the country but with its own piece of property, left fliers around town advertising a community Easter egg hunt Saturday afternoon in our town square.

Now, if the situation were reversed, I would have approached the pastor of the church located on said town square and asked her if her church might like to join forces in hosting an Easter egg hunt there.

Not that we own the town square. But this is a TINY town, we are the only church, and we have a big sign in the square.

Would you just go and host a church event in what is essentially another church's front yard?

Am I being . . . exceptionally unChristlike, especially on this particular week-end, in even allowing this situation to nag at me?

GRR. I find that kind of stuff so ridiculously irritating. I will be unChristlike on your behalf, and will dislike them and their behavior with enough fore for the both of us, so that you can be holy and welcoming yourself. :-)Maybe on Saturday at the egg hunt, you should have some church members out (in church t-shirts if you have them!) offering snacks and drinks and flyers about YOUR worship services, Sunday School, VBS if you have one, etc. :-)

Robin, a kind assessment would be that they just didn't think about it, but it would nag at me, too. I could write a book on how professional church leaders could be more intentionally collegial and cooperative. I could also write an anonymous book of real-life examples of how that doesn't happen. Perhaps a RevGal collaboration . . . ???

Earthchick, let us know if we can help or bring you calming herb tea or anything!

Sounds like you are on a roll, Purple. I have a few home communions to do myself.

That would be a wonderful RevGal collaboration! I have only been here six months and so I am listening, listening . . . but I am at a loss as to why there is not more collaboration among all the tiny country churches out here.

Good Friday busy printing out at last! All 20 pages of it -- in fact 60 when in A5 and double spacing. The printer can't believe it's having to work so hard.

Robin, I don't blame you one bit for the way you are feeling. I seems to me it would be only courteous for the other church to invite you, especially as it's on your 'turf'.

Now to get myself mentally ready for the evening Eucharist and footwashing. I'd love to to wash hands, Purple. Did it in another parish and it was really meaningful. I also saw a suggestion that we wash feet and take it in turns. Maybe next year when they may be less freaked out by a "new" priest who keeps changing things!

ok, the maundy thursday prayer stations are probably as done as they're going to get. Next I have to put together the spoken instructions and prayers that I have to lead, and a basic order for the musicians to follow. The stations I settled on are:praying for enemies/reconciliationpraying for the world giving-our-worries-to-God betrayal confession images-of-God taste-and-see station about sweetness (with chocolate)Connected like aspen trees paper prayer chainHandwashing

I'm a little worried that there's not enough room at each station for the number of people signed up, and I probably need another 2 stations to ease the congestion, but I just can't come up with 2 more. I'm happy to take ideas, as long as they don't require me to go to the store, up until about 3pm central time. lol.

Thank goodness Good Friday is a simple read-the-story-choir-sings-passion-chorales service this year. I don't think I could take it if I had to organize volunteer readers or monologues or drama of any kind. it'll be very simple tomorrow night--darkness, story, simple music. phew.

For those still working on prayers/etc, LiturgyLink has dozens of things up for MT/GF/Easter. If you've written something for any of those, or if you've written something for next week already, please email it in and help your colleagues all over the world!

Okay, I don't know what's going on, but my writing is flowing and I'm actually enjoying it (I hope I didn't just ruin it by saying that!). So YAY. Now I'm going to take a breakfast break, since, even though I've been up for a long time, I haven't eaten anything yet. And my sermon is all about food, so it's kind of making me hungry....

Good morning! We did Mark's Passion narrative on Sunday, as arranged by a member of the church for 6 voices and interspersed with hymns and powerful choir participation. So we are using Matthew tonight for worship around dinner. The prayer centers are set up for after worship. We have 11 Holy Week specific stations and then 3 or 4 of our usual stations set up. Like you Teri, I'm not sure how many people will participate, but I think there's enough to handle whatever crowd we might get. I'm staying at home today until noon. Which is my small concession to not going insane after a crazy busy week that isn't even close to being over. I'm going to work on the Easter sermon in the quiet of my home and then go to church to finish with prayer center preparations. Blessings to you all!

I am so thankful for this community. It's very comforting to know that my frustrations and stresses during this week are a normal part of ministry. Thanks for being there!

Good Friday is done and ready to roll. I got the Easter bulletins mostly done yesterday (Grump #1 - no church secretary). I don't know what I was thinking - I don't quite have the Maundy Thursday stuff ready and now I really feel under the gun. (Grump #2 - there's no altar guild so I have to make sure everything is set up correctly AND I have to arrange for the stripping of the altar, which really has me stressed out).

Tonight's sermon is written (it's here if anyone is interested) and the bulletin is mostly done, except for the stripping of the altar thing. And that's just stressing me out. It was like pulling teeth to get readers for last Sunday's readers theatre of Mark's Passion (Grump # 3 - they just want to come to worship and sit in the pews and have the pastor do the WHOLE worship).

And I'm mourning that I have no choirs, or special music, or drama team, or any of the teams that do cool worship planning stuff (Grump # 4 no special music for Easter). So basically, I'm out of sorts so I'm also grumping that I had to take the trash to the curb again and I've had to do so much running for me teen, etc.

Not a very good place to start the Three Days, I'm afraid. But I know that after tonight's worship, I'll be better. Most of this is just stage jitters and nervousness from this being the first Holy Week here.

On the plus side, I think I have identified the pressing issue that my congregations need to work on - ownership and participation in worship. They complain that the younger generations don't want to be involved and aren't coming - yet they come but aren't involved.

CHrism Mass and ministerial commitment this morning was good and uplifting in many ways - though not keen on the unholy scrum afterwards to grab oils. Stations of the Cross last night, which I love. Used traditional art - photos of stations from Wantage (have also used alternative artists, though this is not usually appreciated by majority!). Had positive feedback and was grateful partly because I was (am) so tired, and stations takes a lot of organising (don't have stations 'built' into church building). Yesterday had a very busy Easter family crafts afternoon, which was great (and contributed to tiredness!). So tonight I don't have to preach (hurray!), will do washing of feet for the few brave enough to volunteer, have the powerful stripping of sanctuary and keep vigil until midnight in the Lady Chapel transformed beautifully into garden of remembrance. Tomorrow have walk of witness (ambivalent feelings), an hour of Good Friday reflections with Mark's passion, then children's Good Friday service (telling the story of how the hare became the messenger of the Christ Child, and making our own paschal candles). Go well, fellow preachers and worship crafters - you are doing important work!

Love reading everyone's comments. We have three pastoral types on staff, so we have divided up the responsibilities--tonight is interim minister's gig--so I am not feeling stressed about it. We have footwashing, communion, tenebrae...it's a lovely service, and she has tweaked it some in great ways.

Tomorrow evening, our seminary student leads GF, and we don't do anything for Holy Saturday. A church in my neighborhood is doing a labyrinth walk on Saturday evening, so I think I will go to that...and Sunday, oh Sunday is full of balloons and flowers and egg hunts and alleluias and Hallelujah Chorus and reception of new members and blessing Mission Trippers and a little meditation somewhere in there entitled, "Really?". That's about as far as I have got with the sermon. ;-)

Aah! A little diversion from my weekly letter to the congregation. Wondering about how to share the comment I heard at Bible study about the Resurrection--"I don't buy it and I don't know what to do with it." I suspect it is not an isolated take on the Resurrection. It lead to a great conversation and took the group to a much deeper level. Just want to be gentle with people's landmarks.

Tomorrow an ecumenical Urban Stations of the Cross. Have to write my opening prayer and pull together the story I will tell about people turned out into the streets.

Last task today--writing my Easter night sermon based on the Emmaus story. Leaning on Bruggemann's notion of Eastering.

And for the Supper table, where they are remembering one of their own special meals, a local "paint your own pottery place" let us buy an unfinished plate and then loaded us up with all of the paints and brushes. We'll take it back to them after it is done and they'll finish it for us! Very excited.

I'm relieved to say the Order of Service is complete. I've also done the booklets for tomorrow. I'm adapting something from five years ago for my meditation tonight. I think I can go home and put my feet up for an hour! Phew!

Okay, I have a draft of my sermon for tonight done, and I'm going to take a break to take care of a couple of kid/home things before I turn to Easter sermonizing. Trying to figure out whether or not I want to change my title before it goes to print later this afternoon.

There is so much to choose from when preaching Maundy Thursday, which has made me second-guess myself a little bit. Our congregation has a Tenebrae service tomorrow night, plus some will participate in the Community Good Friday Service midday tomorrow, so they will get plenty of the Passion. But our host congregation has no other Holy Week services. So in the past when I've preached MT, I've felt the need to really focus on the betrayal aspect of the evening and have even dipped into the GF texts. But this time I'm only doing the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. text) and I'm trying to let that be okay and sufficient.

Aw, thanks, Sharon! Both for your nice words about my blog, and for your reassurance about preaching about the Lord's Supper. I think you are right that we don't talk about it much, and I thought it would be especially good since this is a combined service for two congregations - it seems so appropriate to me that we come together around the table, and I want to talk about that.

I'm tucking the idea of preaching on the Lord's supper in my pocket for another year. I especially like what you said about the combined service for two congregations gathering around the table. It fits my context as well.

Well, I have survived my first footwashing. I found it amazing. I have never enjoyed it when having my feet washed, but doing it the other way round I found awesome and will certainly continue the tradition in this parish.

Set up the church for tomorrow with bare rough cross in the sanctuary. I was going to "clothe" it with stole and crown of thorns (not very original, I know!) but the crown of thorns has disappeared so I have decided on a totally bare cross. Maybe next year I will have the energy to be more inventive -- with the help and ideas from all you revgals!

Bedtime for me and, at last perhaps, a good night's sleep with tomorrow's 3 hours prepared at last. I will think of you all still in the midst of MT. Have fun, even in the stress!

Hi everyone. Low key day for me today, as the choir handles the Maundy Thursday. Simple tomorrow, too. We have a labyrinth and (what will be I'm certain) small prayer circle following. Found a really good one online - Rex Hunt - had to adapt considerably, but it was a good jumping off place.

Then, Sunday. Sunrise on our front patio and I'm giving the kids chalk and having them write the good news. It's Mark, you know, and I'm ending with "they told no one" and then "the story doesn't stop here." So, that will be good I think.

Regular service still up in the air, but will have something to do with new members joining, receiving a special offering, pinwheels, The Hunger Games and the Hallelujah Chorus. Oh, yeah, and resurrection. Ever find you just have a few too many chainsaws you are juggling?

So this is the problem with me finishing my sermon with time to spare - I will tweak it endlessly. Time to make myself stop for real now and do some other things that must be done. Like make coffee! (priorities!)

I've posted a draft of my Maundy Thursday sermon here . My approach is a little bit different because the other two churches celebrating with us are used to a different kind of sermon (longer!). Also, Baptists tend to have a "memorial" view of the Eucharist (rather than a higher sense of sacramental understanding), so I try to work with that in a way that holds up memory as powerful.

p.s. If you haven't read Wil's article here about whether the Last Supper was a Passover Seder, I highly recommend it! My sermon takes the approach that it was, but I know that's not a known fact. (I footnoted Wil's article and quoted this part in the footnote: Yet there is one aspect of Jesus' last meal that does not have a parallel in a regular or Sabbath meal, Jesus re-identification of the bread and wine with himself, his body and his blood. Jesus words would have also been stunning at a seder. They remain extraordinary.

Back from a nap and a little TV - I really needed the down time. I don't know how long it's been since I've been able to watch the evening news!

We now have a new tradition in my household - Holy Leftover Dinner Week. Unless someone else wants to cook. Every night has been sandwiches and/or leftovers,cause cooking Mom has decided that she doesn't cook during Holy Week!

Now to get ready for worship in an hour. I am so glad the congregation hosting tonight's worship is the one right by the parsonage!

lots of great ideas floating around again, even if it is a long week. Good Friday service is over, now some down time for me to reflect for myself, rather than the congregation, and a nap may come my way this afternoon. the reflection today was asking them to think about what they would say if asked to speak a eulogy at a funeral for Jesus, after some quiet space, I asked for responses from the congregation, and half a dozen good comments, some out of left field. so I am planning to write my own 'eulogy for Jesus' today.the question about resurrection is one that comes up from time to time. I will your links on that before I write a sermon for Sunday.

I'm back from our joint Maundy Thursday service, and I think it went well. (A big thank you to RevDrKate for your nice words on my sermon draft blog!). I'm kind of exhausted and wondering how I'm going to make it through the next three days. I'm so grateful for the companionship of this group.

Have any of you ever preached in a space where you felt like the space itself hampered your preaching? That is my and my husband's experience of the worship space I preached in tonight, and consistently. There is something about the sound there - a sort of dampening happens, and the sound system does not overcome it or really do anything to push back against it. Trying to speak louder doesn't help. Pauses, which normally work well in our own sanctuary, don't seem to work at all in this other space. So I find myself speaking a bit faster than usual.

It's a strange experience. The first time I preached there, it was really disorienting and discouraging. Now I'm prepared for it, but I still don't know how to compensate for it. I feel it as a listener, too, when others are speaking there. Even on the front row, I felt disconnected from those who prayed and spoke. And as a preacher, I felt the congregation was physically far away, even though in actuality the front row in that space is closer to the pulpit than in our own space, and the pulpit in that church is closer to floor level.

So interesting how space and sound work - and how they can work against a speaker. I feel like my sermon was better than it felt when I preached it, and I have no idea if it actually connected with anyone.

At any rate, I'm going to work on my Easter sermon the tiniest bit more and then relax a little with some knitting and TV. I'll see all of you here again in the morning!

Cute! I am knitting, too! Yay! My hands have been pretty good. I recently finished a scarf in some yummy Malabrigo (thank you, kathrynzj, for getting it for me on the BE trip!) using Yarn Harlot's one row scarf pattern. And I have socks on the needles, as well as a super-secret project for someone who reads this blog and is having her Ecclesiastical Council soon.

Hi, all~The service went very well tonight, and everyone came to have hands washed. I had been dubious; I am now a believer. And I found having my hands washed by one of the deacons quite moving.Tonight I'm putting together a playlist to be in the background while the sanctuary is open for prayer, reflection and meditation tomorrow. But bed needs to happen soon.

I'm late to the after-party. The Maundy Thursday service was a meal and Communion in the Fellowship Hall, so some of us stayed to get the sanctuary ready for tomorrow night's worship service. After that, I enjoyed some fun conversation and lost track of time. Very satisfying, in so many ways.

I love hearing about everyone's worship services and also the ways that you unwind after. My method du jour: a half glass of wine, a square of dark chocolate, and a hot bath before bed.